Amarinder hits back at Narendra Modi

Hitting back at the Bharatiya Janta Party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on his ‘foreign bank account’ remarks against him, former chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh has challenged him to come out clean on his alleged involvement in the 2002 Gujarat riots.

In a hard hitting response to Modi’s allegations made during an election rally at Barmer in Rajasthan, Amarinder said, “Imagine a man charged with mass murder of hundreds of innocent peoplenever having the moral courage to speak about it, but resorting to myths and lies conceived and created by the dirty tricks department of his party’.

In a statement issued here on Saturday, he also categorically dismissed the charges levelled against him by Modi about the alleged foreign bank accounts in the name of his wife Preneet Kaur, union minister and son, Raninder Singh and his (Amarinder’s) failure to mention these in the affidavit filed along with his nomination papers.

“It is a classic case of pot calling kettle black”, he remarked, while referring to the allegations against Modi about his involvement in the Gujarat riots that followed the Godhra carnage.

The Congress leader reiterated that nobody stopped Modi and his party to pursue these accounts and prove these to be true.

“This is not for the first time that they (BJP) have raised this issue and I am sure this won’t be the last time either”, he remarked.

Observing that the very timing of these allegations exposes the motive behind these, Amarinder said, “They have started sensing the impending defeat of the BJP candidate in Amritsar (Arun Jaitley).”

He alleged that the “continuous and consistent malicious campaign launched by the BJP, first through a maverick mercenary like Subramanian Swamy followed by Arun Jaitley, (party spokesman) Nirmala Sitaraman and now Modi, only betrays their frustration that they are badly losing in Amritsar”.

He further said, “I actually take it as an admission by the BJP of its defeat much ahead of the actual battle. Otherwise there is no point in raising this allegation, which even they know, has no basis”.

I WILL NOT LEAVE AMRITSAR: CAPT

Meanwhile, Amarinder reiterated that he had no intention of leaving Amritsar even after the polls are over.

Reacting to deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal’s assertion that he (Sukhbir) would leave politics if the former chief minister returns to Amritsar after April 30, Amarinder said, “I am sorry, Sukhbir will again be badly disappointed”.

The Congress leader pointed out that earlier Sukhbir used to say that he (Amarinder) will not even come to Amritsar and won’t even be seen during the campaigning. But now he has changed his statement”, he added.

He further said, “This is not unexpected of a mind that is thoroughly intoxicated and hallucinated for multiple reasons and I am sure he will not resign from politics after he sees me in Amritsar even after April 30, because he is a congenital liar like his father”, he added.

STATE SERVICES FEDERATION BACKS CAPT

Meanwhile, the Punjab State Services Federation, a conglomerate of various employees’ unions of the state, has declared its support for Capt Amarinder Singh, the Congress candidate from Amritsar.

A delegation of the federation met Amarinder here on Saturday and conveyed its support to him.The president of the federation, Surinderjit Singh Walia, who is also the president of the PSEB Employees Federation said while the Akali-BJP alliance had failed on all fronts, the employees were the worst victims.

Walia claimed that it was a unanimous decision of all the employees’ unions to support Amarinder to enable him raise his voice in support of the employees.

CAPT’S BROTHER TO CAMPAIGN IN MAJITHA

Malwinder Singh, the younger brother of Amarinder, will be campaigning in the Majitha assembly se gment for the Congress.

In a release issued here on Saturday, Malwinder, who rejoined the Congress recently after his two-year stint with SAD, said he had selected Majitha for the obvious reason that people there were being terrorised by revenue minister Bikram Singh Majitha and his supporters.

He said that since Amarinder will have to campaign in all the nine assembly segments of the Amritsar constituency, he will not be able to devote much time in Majitha.

“I will ensure that public sentiment is translated into votes”, he asserted.